It’s sweet when you buy a car and it immediately needs service — awesome experience. Seemingly out of pure luck, that’s what happened with the first Tesla Model S we bought for our new Tesla Shuttle service. Days after picking the Model S up from Germany (used, and not through Tesla), “Acceleration Reduced” appeared on the small screen behind the steering wheel, and underneath that in a bit smaller text, “Contact Tesla Service When Convenient.”
The Model 3 is going to level up Tesla’s game in many ways, with the first and foremost being the lower price point. Bringing a Tesla to market that is on par with the average sales price of a new car in the US changes everything and truly opens up the brand to the mass market for the first time in its existence.
Our tractor has started shaking violently … and seems to have a sore throat. I didn’t really notice it initially, but now this strikes me as a disastrous concern.
One of the biggest concerns I’ve noticed from many Tesla Model 3 reservation holders is the 3’s trunk. Will it be big enough? Will it fit a stroller or bike? Will it safely house my full-sized LEGO Batman?
Tesla Model 3 production starts tomorrow, unless there was some kind of dramatic surprise since Monday. It seems that tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people who have never before had an electric car have a reservation for a Model 3. They have a bit of planning to do.
As you’ve probably read, a handful of guys and I recently got a Tesla Model S 85D for an intercity European Tesla Shuttle service we’re launching based out of Wroclaw, Poland. This last weekend, I rented the Tesla myself (but with no personal driver, unfortunately) to pick my family up from my in-laws’ “summer house” (lake house in the middle of nowhere). This place is really off the beaten track, in what I think we’d call “the boonies” in the United States.
For years now, we and many others have been saying that no company can compete with Tesla in the electric car market until they offer a good network of superfast charging stations for their drivers. One year ago, there was no solid information anything like this was in the plans, but one had to think it was. Today, we have news of a coalition of automakers working on it in Europe and ChargePoint and EVgo developing such stations in the US, but it seems that every other automaker is years behind Tesla in this regard. That said, it seems Nissan may be the first to try to compete.
My second “real,” long drive on Autopilot (from Wroclaw to Berlin) demonstrated to me two places in which Autopilot is brilliantly lovable. These, imho, are the situations in which Autopilot is like collecting mushrooms in Mario Bros.
I first experienced Tesla Autopilot last year, as I wrote in my Tesla Model X review. It was certainly cool and interesting, and a bit nerve-racking. But that was a short test drive on a California highway — not real use.
Well, a few guys and I recently got our first Tesla Model S for an intercity Tesla shuttle service we’re launching here in Europe (… called Tesla Shuttle), and the Tesla includes Autopilot.
Kyle Field did a great job reviewing the Bolt, what I thought I’d do here is share some views on why we leased it and also give our hands-on impressions over the last 1,200 miles.
